Wavering

What it means

Schwankend is a German performance marking and calls for an unsteady, changeable performance. The music is to find no firm footing: tempo, dynamics, or expression waver, as if the direction were uncertain.

The marking concerns expression. Which means carries the wavering results from the context — often a freer tempo with stretchings and accelerations, occasionally also dynamic changes or an unsettled sound.

Schwankend differs from zögernd, which means a holding back, through direction: hesitation holds still, wavering swings back and forth. It differs from inquieto, which designates inner unrest, through uncertainty — unrest can be goal-directed, wavering cannot. The phrase “to and fro” describes the same image.

In the notation

The word stands above the staff at the point from which it applies.

Musical use

The marking suits passages that express uncertainty, doubt, or indecision, for instance a song text of that kind. From the nineteenth century onwards, performance markings in German such as this one appear increasingly alongside the Italian ones.

Performance practice

Shape the wavering deliberately and plan it: an arbitrary wobble sounds imprecise, a planned one seems expressive. Fix where to stretch and where to press forward. Keep an inner pulse nonetheless, to which you return. And coordinate within the ensemble — depicting uncertainty demands great certainty in ensemble playing.